JP France gets 1st MLB win in stellar outing against White Sox

On Friday night, the offense delivered and JP France did his thing to open the three-game series with a 5-1 win against the White Sox and help the Astros reach 20 victories.

En route to his first career win in MLB, right-hander France kept his overall hot streak in 2023, taking into account what he did in Triple-A. This time, he dominated Chicago bats throughout 6 2/3 innings in which he allowed just three hits and one earned run, which came via a home run from Luis Robert Jr. in the second inning. Besides that, he walked one and struck out three.

After two outings and 11 2/3 innings, JP France’s ERA is at 0.77 and he’s carrying an outstanding 0.69 WHIP – to this point, he’s given up only six hits and two free passes.

Even though the Astros began the game losing by one after Robert’s homer in the second, they reacted for good by scoring in innings four, five, and six.

First, Jeremy Peña hit a game-tying sacrifice fly in the fourth. Then, Kyle Tucker drove home Martín Maldonado with a go-ahead double in the fifth. In the sixth, Maldonado recorded an RBI double of his own to make it 3-1.

Since April 30, Maldonado is hitting for a .320/.393/.520 slash line (8-for-25), with two doubles, one homer, four ribbies, and three runs scored.

In the same inning, Mauricio Dubón followed Maldonado with another RBI two-bagger to extend the Astros’ lead to 4-1.

It wasn’t until the ninth inning that Yordan Álvarez crushed a solo shot to right field that traveled 428 feet for his ninth long ball of the campaign. Yordan is carrying a nine-game hitting streak.

On Saturday (6:15 pm CT), the Astros will go after their fourth straight win when they face the White Sox again. Brandon Bielak gets the start while Dylan Cease is expected to serve as the starter for Chicago.

VIDEOS AND BOX SCORE HERE.